Workers rally in Lynn for higher pay, immigrant rights

LYNN – More than 100 residents from different walks of life, different countries and speaking a number of different languages came together Thursday for one reason: to rally on International Workers’ Day on the Lynn Common.”What do we want?” asked Isaac Hodes from Lynn United for Change.”Justice,” the crowd roared back.Holding signs that read “Justice for Workers,” “Respect for All Workers” and “End S-Comm” participants marched from North Shore Community College, up Union Street and over the Lynn Common where immigrants speaking in Spanish, Khmer and English shared their plights and their hopes.”We are here today to unite and demand a raise in the state minimum that includes indexing to inflation and a real increase for tipped workers as well,” said Dara Chhim, first in Khmer then in English. “The cost of living will go up in the future. When it goes up, the minimum wage should automatically go up with it.”Chhim said in January in his native country of Cambodia workers in the garment industry held a rally to demand a decent wage.”They demanded an increase from $80 to $160 per month,” he said. “During the protest violent gunfire erupted from the country’s security forces.”Chhim said five people were killed, 42 were injured and 23 were arrested and tortured in prison simply for demanding a better wage.”We stand in solidarity with them and people around the world fighting for justice and a living wage,” Chhim said. “Their courage should inspire us to take action here at home.”Juan Gonzalez from the Worker’s Center also called for unity and said, in Spanish, that everyone deserved to be treated with dignity and respect. He said it is unfair for employers to hire undocumented workers but then feel they can get away without paying them a decent wage.Katherine Asuncion from the Student Immigration Movement came to this country as a child on a tourist visa and when it ran out her family stayed, she said.”I knew I was undocumented but I didn’t know what it meant to feel trapped, frustrated and depressed with no opportunities in this country that I call my home,” she said.Asuncion said she was encouraged by teachers to work hard because she would go far, but she knew that wasn’t true. Because she was undocumented, she knew she would not have the same benefits, such as student aid, to get into college.She said there are students in the Lynn school system now who are undocumented, and she would like to meet with them and guide them, but the school department won’t allow it.”We need to get an education because we are the next generation and we cannot be left in the shadows,” she said.Belarmino Barrios, president of Guatemaltecos en Accion, said labor exploitation is evident in the undocumented community. He said the Secure Communities began in 2008, and it creates an automatic pipeline of information from every city and town in the state to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). He estimates that between 2009 and 2011, 11,000 individuals in the state have faced deportation or prison due to Secure Communities.If people stand together however, they could make a difference, he said.”One immigrant plus another immigrant equals an organized community,” he said. “The best gift for the children is to stop the deportations.”Lynn United for Change member Maria Carrasco, who is also a School Committee member, said she would like to see Thursday’s rally become an annual event.”We will make this a tradition,” she said. “Every May 1 we will march and rally for immigration rights.”